


Slightly Haunted, Strongly Friends

by sol1loqu1st



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Aromantic Character, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:40:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25460269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sol1loqu1st/pseuds/sol1loqu1st
Summary: After Yugi entrusted Jounouchi with the ghost Atem's puzzle, the two of them had a bit of a long day together. Later that night, the two of them have a heart-to-heart on a subject that's been bothering them both.A ficfic of Alex @EmeraldTrash666's fanfic, Slightly Haunted! I wrote this over a year ago and am only just now getting around to posting it. I believe it's meant to take place between chapters 13 and 14.
Relationships: Atem & Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler & Mutou Yuugi
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Slightly Haunted, Strongly Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Slightly Haunted](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16011671) by [EmeraldTrash666](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldTrash666/pseuds/EmeraldTrash666). 



Jounouchi laid sprawled out on his stomach, blankets half-covering his body and half hanging off the bed, tantalizingly close to just slipping off altogether. His pillow was squished against the headboard uncomfortably, and he rolled over on his side, massaging the crick that had formed in his neck overnight. “Atem, you awake?” he mumbled, barely opening his eyes.

Atem chuckled a bit.  _ “No, I managed to figure out how to sleep in the middle of the night.” _

Jounouchi smacked his forehead. “Right.” The covers slipped all the way to the floor and he groaned. “Glad it’s a weekend…” He reached to grab the blankets, legs jutting into the air awkwardly as he pulled them back up onto the bed.

He was feeling… bad, probably.

“Y’know, it’s like everybody’s got somebody that like… really,  _ really _ cares about them but me,” he decided, almost to himself.

_ “Obviously your friends care about you. Yugi trusts you enough with my puzzle. And what about Shizuka?” _

“Hm, I guess. But… you know what I mean.” He paused. “Okay so you know like when - when we’re all adults, like… I mean, what then?”

Atem cocked his head.  _ “What do you mean?” _

“Take Honda for example. He’s all about girls, that whole stunt with Miho and everything, he’s gonna find a girlfriend someday and then he’ll get married and leave. What happens when Yugi and Anzu stop giving a shit about D&D and Duel Monsters and start giving a shit about, y’know, finding a  _ real family _ and like, settling down finally? And when you leave…even if you come back to visit...” He’d be alone.

Atem was a perpetual teenager in a literal sense. He was a ghost, surrounded either by fellow ghosts who had died at a much older age than he had or by the living, who continued to get older as he stayed the same. Jounouchi would, of course, continue to age, but would he ever be allowed to graduate past his teens or twenties?

_ “You mean…” _

Jounouchi nodded. He wiped his eyes and sniffed, trying not to look like he was about to cry over it. “There’s a damn reason it’s hard to say that word. I’m… I’ll never be like them. Even Yugi, I mean...he claims he cares more about us than any crush or whatever but what happens when he meets, like, the one? They’re all gonna leave me behind.” He knew he was being bitter, but he almost didn’t care.

_ “Jounouchi…” _

“Fuckin’  _ hate _ romance. It ruins everything. Love having a silly kiddie friend group that’s gonna break apart as soon as one of us finds a love interest - and they always do. I can’t prioritize them the way they prioritize a lover so they’ll never prioritize me.”

_ “You have to trust that your friends won’t leave you,” _ Atem said.

“But things’ll be different.”

_ “Things will always be different. And you’ll always have me! Yugi and Anzu and Honda - they all love you too much to write you out of their lives like that. But even if they somehow do I’ll never leave your side.” _

“I’ll never leave yours, bro.”

_ “Bro…” _

Jounouchi cracked a grin, but his face fell. “I dunno. I’m still worried. I haven’t even told Shizuka. What’ll she think of me? When Yugi and Anzu came out as bisexual I thought, y’know, this ain’t so bad, I could just be the aro friend or whatever and everybody would be chill with it but then, turns out… guess I’m kinda heartless.”

_ “That’s bullshit,” _ Atem told him, matter-of-factly.  _ “As a fellow aromantic gamer I’m going to point out exactly how much Yugi, Anzu, and Honda love you and how much you love them, how Shizuka’s art is all over your walls, and how much fun we had yesterday. If you were heartless none of that would be possible, because you would be dead.”  _ He nodded sagely.

“I would be-” Jounouchi snorted. “Yeah, I guess that’s true, if I didn’t have a heart I’d be dead of like, not having any blood or whatever.” He hopped out of bed, suddenly aware that his clock said it was almost 9am. “SHIT-” he began, suddenly racing to pull off his pajamas and change into his-

_ “Do you have somewhere to be?” _ Atem said, before Jounouchi could properly undress.  _ “I thought it was a weekend.” _

“Oh. Yeah. Right,” he laughed. “Weekend. No school. Hell yeah.” He crawled back into bed.  



End file.
